More Behind The Mask
by WinterHorn
Summary: "WHAT? What do you mean you CAN'T find him? YOU BETTER FIND HIM! OR MY FOOT'S GONNA MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR ASS!" And with that they fell in love. Rated T for reasons, may be rated M later on, depending on how this goes. my First Fic, and returning to it after 4 years. OCxKyoya KaoruxOC later on. no flames. R&R! much appreciated!
1. Interesting Introductions

Oh jeebus. It has been a long time…..a loooooong time. Let's hope I've done a decent job of touching these up. Because, honestly, the way I used to write was awful. Just…awful. Haha. Wish me luck! Also, for everyone who is wondering, the reason for Valentine being attached to Kori's hip is explained a little later.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Ouran High School Host Club, including its characters, or anything to do with its publishers. I do own Kori, Valentine, and any other characters that may arise and be of my own design. **

* * *

**Chapter One:**_ Interesting Introductions_

"Third music room…third music room…hmm," she mused, looking at the signs above the doors as she casually strolled down the long, expensively decorated hallway of Ouran High School, her tattered knapsack slung over her shoulder. She cringed at the excessive use of pink and yellow and the decorations lining the hallways that look so expensive and delicate that she was afraid to breathe on them, lest they disintegrate and she, being miss cheap-as-hell, would have to pay for it.

She chuckled silently at the atrocious overly-expensive items as she came to a stop at Music Room 3. The large, white German Shepard that was trotting next to her came to a halt as well, sitting and staring up at the girl with his piercing blue eyes. She looked down and smiled at him, reaching down to scratch lovingly behind his ear.

"What do you think, Valentine my love?"

He woofed an answer under his breath, leaning into her hand and making very contented grumbles. With that she nodded and pushed the door open. Immediately she was assaulted by a strong perfumed scent and rose petals caught in some sort of breeze-from-nowhere, blasting her in the face.

"**Welcome!**"

For a moment, she could do nothing but stand there and stare in shock. Before her stood what appeared to be seven teenage boys, all of them wearing what looked like Kabuki theater garb, including several of them dressed like overly painted, and frankly scary looking, women.

"Um…Ok…Well then… I'll just… This is obviously not the right room… I'll just go…" She pauses a moment, staring intently at one of the costumed teenagers. "Haruhi?! Oh….my….dear….god." It isn't long until the girl broke down into an intense laughing fit, leaning against the wall and holding her ribs as her body is racked with laughter.

"Holy crap! Kori?! Oh jeez… Did you pick a day to visit or what..." Haruhi rolls her eyes at her friend's reaction, wiping off the make-up as she staggers out the door, still laughing hysterically.

* * *

_**~~~about ten minutes later~~~**_

They were sitting down at a table and sipping tea, a grin is still plastered to Kori's face and a cheeky glint is in her eyes. The dog was stretched out beside Kori's chair, chewing on a stuffed zebra that seemed to be missing an ear and both of its button eyes. Tamaki was dancing about saying things about 'his lovely daughter having a lovely lady friend that was going to make her more feminine' and the usual silly nonsense. The others were gathered around at the table where Haruhi and Kori sat and were chatting. Kyoya was writing away in his black notebook, Hunny was inhaling cake, Mori was listening to whoever was speaking at the time, and the twins were scheming away in their minds in silence.

"So how've you been Haruhi, my darling? Not getting into lots of trouble, eh?"

"Yeah well…you see the people I'm with."

"Yes. I do," she shrugs. "But it could be worse. They could be child molesters or serial killers, so I'd say you lucked out pretty well." Kori's grin widens as Haruhi cracks a smile of her own, having been reminded of her friend's dry and sometimes messed up sense of humour.

"So who exactly are you?" the twins ask rather curtly, interrupting whatever response Haruhi was planning. Kori just grins wider, looking even more like the Cheshire cat.

"Oh! I have yet to introduce myself. How rude. I apologize," she replied, sarcasm pouring off of her words and accompanied by a very disdainful look. She stands and makes a dramatic, overly deep bow. "I am Korisca Yabunhane, at your service. Most people just call me Kori, though. This mutt," she nudges said mutt with her foot and he just grumbles in response, "is Valentine. And you all must be," as she spoke pointed to each club member that matched the name, "Tamaki Suoh, Kyoya Ootori, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, Honey, and Mori. Am I right?"

They were all shocked into silence. How the hell could she know their names?! They hadn't mentioned them had they? She even got the twins right! She simply stood there with that Cheshire grin.

It was in this moment that Kyoya, ever observant as he was, took the time to measure her up completely. Average height, maybe even a tad short, and fairly pale with dirty blonde hair reaching her mid back. As she turned and the light from the windows struck her hair, sparks of red could be seen in the highlights. They all appeared to be natural, except for the ostentatious streaks of bright blue and green, made even more noticeable by the fact that those dyed strips were made into thick braids. Baggy black cargo shorts and a dark blue t-shirt featuring the name of some American band were her choice of attire, as well as a pair of black, open-toed sandals. Overall, she seemed fairly normal. But there was something about her, the way she held herself, the intrigued him. That, and her eyes.

A bright smoldering silver, warm when laughing, shining and glinting when being mischievous and hard and cold, like steel, when angered or crossed. Odd eyes, not something one saw every day.

"Hello? Hey! What _are_ you people staring at!? _HELLO_! _TRANSMISSION FROM MOTHER SHIP_!" Kori yelled, snapping her fingers in their faces as they stared off into space, all except for Kyoya, who was busy making notes in that black notebook of his. "Jeez, you guys are more oblivious than Haruhi when she's focused on a discount at the supermarket."

"How do you know so much about us, Kori-chan?" Hunny chirped, cake fork in his mouth and eyes wide in question.

"Well now, that would be thanks to Haruhi. She is good at creating detailed e-mails. But I can't really blame her, since I was the one who demanded all of it." She shrugs and winks at Haruhi, plopping back down into her chair and pulling a diet soda from her bag.

"So. Why _exactly_ are you here…" asked Hikaru, the usual malice for any of Haruhi's old friends simmering in his words. Valentine senses the Hitachiin's hostility and growls a deep warning, a guttural and brutal promise, his ears laying flat on his head and giving him an even more vicious appearance. Hikaru's attention immediately falls on the dog, who is eyeing him like a starving wolf eyes an injured deer, and his eyes widen slightly in fear. Kori just casually sips her drink, taking one of her feet out of the sandal and rubbing up Valentine's spine with the bare foot.

"Valentine." Her volume is barely above a whisper, but it is without doubt a command. Both Valentine and Hikaru look at her. Kori just gives Valentine a look until he huffs in irritation, and continues his assault on the poor, decrepit stuffed animal.

It isn't a few seconds before Hikaru begins to kind of flip out, running around a resembling a large, irritating chicken with its head cut off. Kori very simply and calmly, sets down her soda, pops off the tab and, in one swift flick, lands the tab right in the middle of Hikaru's head. He stops

She takes another gulp and chuckles, "You should see your face. It really is priceless." And with that, the tension that had built was broken. Haruhi burst into laughter, followed by Kori and Kaoru, who earned a dirty look for laughing at his brother.

After they finally calmed down, Haruhi brings the subject back to attention. "So really, what are you doing here, Kori?"

"Getting my schedule, I start Monday ya'know." She says with raised eyebrow. "Don't you check your e-mail anymore? I sent you a message weeks ago telling you I was coming back. And why."

"You didn't run away again did you?" Haruhi asked as an eyebrow rose in disapproval.

Kori just rolled her eyes, "Me? Do that? Never." She grins. "But seriously, no. I haven't run away. I'm living with Alan. And I've brought the…" At that precise moment, a small human projectile comes flying in and lovingly tackles the unsuspecting Korisica. Valentine jumps up to save her, then recognizes the little person and dramatically collapses onto the ground to take a nap, the zebra in his jaws.

"KOKO-CHAN!" A little boy with dark brown hair has planted himself on Korisca lap and is grinning up at her. She makes a face at him and kisses his forehead.

"Hey Uto. What are you up to?"

"Big brother sent me to find you. And I did! Can I have a cookie?" He whipped out the puppy dog eyes and just stared at her.

"Mmm… Fine! Just stop drilling holes into my skull with your overly ridiculous eyes…" She drags that ratty bag onto her lap and starts rummaging through it, mumbling things about the little boy.

Uto just smiles and pats her head, then proceeds to examine the people around him. His bright eyes, one a leafy green and the other an icy blue, narrows as he slowly makes his way around the table, looking at each of the host club members and thoroughly freaking most of them out except for Kyoya, who just goes to writing something in that notebook, Mori, who just looks back with a confused expression, and Hunny, who just smiles and munches on his cake.

"Found it! God I have too much crap in this bag…here. Do _not_ eat them all. Save some for Alan." She says as she whips out a Tupperware container filled to the brim with chocolate chip cookies. Uto takes off the lid with the look of a child at Christmas and hands a few to Hunny.

"Try some. My sister makes _the best_ chocolate chip cookies." He says and begins to stuff his face. Hunny follows and they both end up in a land of sugary bliss.

"Wait. _That_ is your brother?" Haruhi is now thoroughly confused. _The little boy looks nothing like Korisca. How could he be her brother?_

"Yep. The son of Iantro and Liana Yuzuka. My baby brother, Haruto."

"Oh. I'm guessing that's why you left…"

"Yep. I'd had it. That woman gets on my nerves too much."

"May I interject?" All eyes them turned to Kyoya, who had finished writing whatever it was he was writing and was now looking at Kori with a fake smile plastered on.

"Well you already have. So it's a bit late there. Go ahead." Kori's eyes began to glint with laughter at his obvious annoyance with her facetious attitude.

Kyoya pushes his glass back up his nose and just continues to smile at her. "It seems your escort has arrived."

"Huh?" She turns around to see her eldest brother, a tall, well built young man with hair to match hers, minus the braids, and soft gray-blue eyes. She sees him and her face instantly brightens, "Hiya Al. what's up?"

He sends a small smile to Haruhi and nods at the others. "We need to go. We need to beat the movers. Everything is ready. Come on." He nods once again to Haruhi and starts walking back down the hallway. Kori hands Hunny one more cookie, much to his delight, and shoves everything back in her bag, standing and bowing to everyone.

"Bye people. I'll call you later Haru. Give Ranka my love! See you all Monday." She winks at them and waves as she walks out, Haruto riding piggy-back and Valentine trotting in front, the poor zebra still in his jaws. After she is well out of earshot, Haruhi sighs and starts to clean up.

"She sure is a nice lady! Look how many cookies she gave me Takashi!" Hunny exclaimed, hugging Usa-chan and smiling up at his taller friend.

"Ah."

"Well she sure is an interesting one. She should draw in some good business if she continues to spend time here." Kyoya added, writing more notes in that notebook.

"We didn't think so. Her fashion sense was really quirky. Does she even look…"

"WELL I THINK IT'S FABULOUS THAT MY CUTE DAUGHTER HAS SUCH A UNIQUE FRIEND THAT MAY FURTHER CUTIFY HER!" Tamaki couldn't help himself after awhile. He tries to attack Haruhi with a hug but she easily avoids and holds her head, sighing with frustration.

"You guys give me a headache. I'm going home… I'll see you Monday. Bye." Grabbing her bag, she strolls out just as Kori did a few minutes before.

Half way home, she sighs again. "I'm glad to see Korisca again but why do I get the feeling something bad is going to happen," she shrugs, "Oh well. Guess I'll find out Monday."


	2. Maniacal Mondays

Ok. So most of the things I've changed are consistency issues, grammar, and general demeanor and type regarding some of the characters. Nothing really major, just stuff that bothered me when I read back through it. Thanks in advance for reading!

******Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Ouran High School Host Club, including its characters, or anything to do with its publishers. I do own Kori, Valentine, and any other characters that may arise and be of my design. **

* * *

**C****hapter Three: **_Maniacal Mondays_

_**~~MONDAY~~**_

Valentine pushed the door to the Third Music Room open with his muzzle, announcing the arrival of Kori. Haruhi braced herself for the impending doom.

Wait for it…Waaaaaait for it…..Waaaait fo-

"HARUUUUUUUHIIIIIII!" Kori howled as she dashed in and slammed into Haruhi, causing her to nearly fall and knock over a tea set that was sitting at her elbow and managing to startle most of the Host Club members.

"OOF! ...Aren't you a little old for that Kori?"

"Nope. You're never too old to pounce a friend. Silly Haru!" Kori replies simply, patting Haruhi on the head and taking a banana out of that bag of hers. She breaks it in half and feeds half of it to Valentine and begins to nibble on the other half.

"Kori!"

"PRINCESS KORI!" It's now Kori's turn to get tackled by not just Hunny, but Tamaki as-well. She tosses her peel, letting it fly and smack Tamaki before he gets close enough to do any damage and allows Hunny to attach himself to the arm not being used to eat the banana. Hunny then proceeds to give her his full-on cutest look possible. Kori gives Tamaki, who is now sulking and cultivating mushrooms in his corner of depression, a weird and slightly terrified look before glancing down at Hunny and grinning when she realizes what he wants.

"Yes Hunny-sempai? Would you like something?"

"Do you have anymore of those cookies like last time?" He stares up at her with his big chocolate eyes with Usa-chan tucked in his elbow. He is the picture of cute. And she can't help herself.

She snatches him into a big hug and squeals with delight. After she sets him down, she spends a moment rummaging through her bag before producing an even bigger Tupperware container with cookies inside.

"Now Hunny. Do not eat these all at once. If you can make these last for a few days, then you'll have more and maybe even a cake." She winks at him, handing him the container. She laughs as stars appear in his eyes and he rushes over to Mori, showing off his prize.

"So what classes did you get?" Inquire the twins, draping their arms over her shoulders. Hikaru pokes her pocket and swipes her schedule when she doesn't move fast enough.

"Hey!" Her yelp of alarm goes unacknowledged as he tosses the smashed and crumpled piece of paper to Kaoru, who hurriedly flattens it out on the table before Kori snatches it back and thumps them both on the head.

"**What was that for**?!"

"Don't take things from people's pockets. It's rude and counts as sexual harassment." She snickers as they rub their heads. "Now then, I have Algebra, Personal Finance, Government, Latin, Japanese Lit. Honors, a free block, and Advanced Art and Theory. There! Happy?! Rude little rapscallions."

"We'd be happier…"

"…if you didn't look like a Hobo."

Her jaw drops and she looks down at herself. They just grin at her expression.

"I DO NOT LOOK LIKE A HOBO! These happen to be my favorite, and _luckiest_, jeans! And this is one of my favorite sweatshirts!" That's right ladies and gents. She refused, vehemently I might add, to wear the uniform and opted for casual wear. Her excuse: it was yellow…and yellow looks like puke.

Instead of the yellow dress she chose to wear a pair of bleached jeans with small holes forming in the knees and covered in so many colors of paint that there is almost not space left on the front parts of the legs. Her choice of top is ratty looking black jacket, pulled over a navy-blue and black striped shirt. A pair of black sneakers on her feet and her hair is down, wild and slightly messy, two thick blue and green, respectively, waves marking where her braids were.

"You do look like a hobo," They respond flatly. They then turn tail and head for one of the back changing rooms.

She 'hmphs' and flops down in a chair, glaring menacingly in their general direction, when Kyoya decides to interrupt her.

"I wonder. What will you do with Valentine? I'm sure you don't intend to bring him to your classes."

"Actually, I do," She smiles up at him while his eyebrows dance with his hairline. She simply reaches down and pulls out a folded piece of paper. "This little piece of tree says he can follow me almost everywhere." She chuckles as he hands the paper back to her and jots something down in his notebook.

"Quite." He pushes his glasses up his nose and snaps his notebook shut. "It's almost time for class. Might I ask what class you have first?"

"Um. Head master said I have class with you and Tamaki."

"You're a second year? How'd you pull _that_ off?" Haruhi looked up from her text-book, a very confused and skeptical expression marring her features.

"Well… I skipped a grade in middle school back in New York. They saw that I was from Japan and asked if I wanted to attempt to test out and skip a grade. So I ended up back where I was really meant to be in the first place. Ridiculous, right?" She lets loose a short, boisterous laugh before shouldering her bag and standing.

By now, Tamaki has just realized that he has class with Kori. He leaps up and links arms with her excitedly.

"Well, Princess. We don't want to be late for your first day!" And with that he dashes off, a rag doll Kori in tow. Valentine scrambles after them in a vain effort to keep his mistress out of harm. Haruhi stands up and looks to the door where Tamaki has run, her poor friend in tow.

She looks to Kyoya as she grabs her things and heads out the door, "Please make sure that Tamaki doesn't completely wreck my friend. I would hate for her to go completely insane before she turns 20." Kyoya just nods and smiles at Haruhi.

"I'll do my best, but you know Tamaki." He smiles and leaves through the same door the others had.

"Well that's not very comforting…" Haruhi mumbles before being ambushed by the twins and herded to her own class.

* * *

_**~~In Class~~**_

She was late.

Kyoya pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and vexation. Somehow, exactly how had yet to be discovered, she had slipped Tamaki's grasped and escaped. Tamaki, as he always does, panicked and spent what little time he had looking for her. Even now he was still fidgeting, looking around the room and at each entrance in an effort to catch a glimpse if she attempted to sneak in. It was starting to get annoying.

About two minutes into class, Korisca comes strolling in, like it's just perfectly normal to show up late, Valentine walking at her heels. Kyoya looks around the room to gauge everyone's reactions. Most have the expressions of surprise, horror, or a mixture of both, including the teacher. All except for Tamaki, whose face brightens up upon seeing her.

The teacher shoots out of his chair and screams, "What the hell is that?"

Kori stops in her tracks, stunned at the outburst, and appears to be thoroughly perplexed. "What is what?"

"I'm sorry, Miss, but you are _not_ allowed to have pets of any sort in the classroom. That _thing_ shouldn't even be on the premises. You're lucky you were able to sneak it on, but if you think that you're going to get away with it so blatantly, you are wrong. Now then, it needs to leave, or you will be suspended."

She could handle the not being allowed part. She could even deal with the being yelled at by a complete stranger. What she couldn't allow and simply ignore was the blatant disrespect. That just pissed her off.

Her expression changes very suddenly with the man's words. Her face goes flat and stays that way for a moment, before she furrows her brows angrily, her eyes turning to steel at she glares at the man as if he is the most disgusting thing she has ever had the displeasure to look at. This causes him to take a few more steps back, "First of all, he is not an 'it' or a 'thing'. He happens to be male. His name is Valentine. He is a German Shepard, well know for their skills in protection and their use by the police as detection and attack dogs," Valentine interjects with a low growl and Kori uses her other hand to hold his head against her thigh. "Second, here." She calmly, calm to the point of scary, hands him her crumpled and ripped schedule and the neatly and crisply folded letter of allowance from the Headmaster.

The teacher's eyes widen as he reads the letter and he quickly scribbles his signature on the schedule, mumbling incoherent things as red creeps up his neck and into his face. As he hands it back, she grips it and makes eye contact. Her eyes hard and his strongly resembling the eyes of a frightened rabbit. She holds his gaze a moment longer before tugging the papers out of his hand and waiting patiently for her seating arrangement.

"Thank you very much, Sensei." Her voice is sarcastic and harsh, dripping with contempt.

Kori makes a face at Valentine and nudges his head with her hip. He looks up at her and cocks his head sideways before grudgingly moving out the door and taking a spot in the hallway to wait patiently.

The whole time the loudest thing in the room, besides the nice little conversation between Kori and the teacher, are the whispers commenting on her, ranging from the dog to her clothing.

Kori looks to the teacher, eyes wide, trying to figure out what to do next. He looks up at her and rubs his temples, trying to fight off the oncoming headache.

He mumbles loud enough for her to hear, "Well…. Introduce yourself if you like. Afterwards, take the seat next to Mr. Ootori."

Kori grins like a Cheshire cat and turns on her heel to address the slightly stunned classroom. She just smiles at them, like she didn't just have a very uncomfortable conversation with a teacher.

"Hello. My name's Korisca Yabunhane. I am 17 years old and my birthday is on the Winter Solstice, December 21st. I'm originally from Italy, but moved to Japan when I was small, so I speak both languages pretty well. And I've recently come back from a stint in America." She laughs nervously and runs a hair through her already messy hair, "Um…What else…Oh yeah! That was Valentine. I've raised him since I found him as a pup. He doesn't really like strange people, so please don't try to pet him without me around. Otherwise he'll rip your ribs right out of your chest and I won't feel a bit bad about it." She smiles real big then goes and plops down at the desk next to Kyoya.

This puts her right between him and Tamaki.

"You don't think that was a bit much?" Kyoya mentions, giving her a side long glance while taking notes as the teacher writes them on the board.

Kori glances back and winks at him, causing Kyoya to flush for reasons unknown to even him. "Naw. It was perfect, O' Prince of Darkness. I mean, I've given them fair warning. If any of them are stupid enough not to heed it, then they are total idiots. Otherwise, they'll be fine….Big babies." She snickers into her hand, disguising it as a cough.

"Well I think it's just **wonderful ** that we've added such an interesting person to our family!" Kori raises an eyebrow as Tamaki goes all starry-eyed at the prospect of having a new 'daughter.'

Kori gives him that 'you are so odd' look and pulls out a book, hiding it in her desk, "Um…No. You are not part of my family." She grins at the look of terrified shock on his face and continues, "Which means, I don't really care if Val bites your face off."

The grin widens into a full smile at the prospect of being able to terrorize poor Tama. The smile causes her silvery eyes to twinkle, like they've been finely polished. This doesn't escape the eye of Kyoya, though he attempts to ignore it and continues to try to listen to the math lecture, furiously continuing to take notes.

After quietly chatting a bit more with Tamaki, they are fiercely quieted by the instructor. Tamaki returns to taking the notes on the board. Kori, on the other hand is thoroughly uninterested in the topic at hand, so she discreetly pops an ear bud in and continues reading her book, looking up to the board every once in a while to scan it over before returning to the text filled pages.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a very creased, very old paperback copy of _Wuthering Heights_.

Kyoya absentmindedly jots this down, _She must be one of those romantic flighty types. Joy…_

As soon as the bell rang signaling that first period is over, Kori gives Kyoya and Tamaki short hugs, much to the shock of Kyoya and the rage of the fan girls, and dashes out of the room, pausing only to scratch Valentine behind the ears before continuing her scurry down the hallway, laughing at nothing in particular.

"Well, if anything, she should serve to make things a bit more interesting. What do you say Tamaki?"

Tamaki, strangely enough, was having one of his lucid and mature moments, "She's unique. She will most likely serve everyone who is around her some well-needed adjustments." He then looks over to a semi-shocked Kyoya, who has only seen his friend like this a handful of times.

And then he ruins it.

"I'm so happy we have another daughter in our family." Tamaki then has a starry-eyed, day dreamy moment of Haruhi and Kori in blue and yellow frilly sundresses sitting on a picnic blanket. "Do you think she actually _**would**_, Mother?"

Kyoya pushes his glasses up in frustration and begins walking away, leaving poor Tamaki to his silly and hopeless daydream.

* * *

_**~~End of the Day~~  
**_

_ Well…it could've been worse._ Haruhi mused absent-mindedly while entertaining a client.

From what she could gather from Kori's quick ramblings, before she ran off saying something about have to get her brother and run errands, almost all of her teachers had reacted quite violently to Valentine's presence. Except for the Art teacher who just grinned at the animal and signed the papers, even allowing Valentine to go lay in the corner next to Kori's easel and sleep in the classroom.

Tamaki and Hunny had immediately gone on an upset rampage when Kori had not shown up for Host Club. That is, until Haruhi had explained to them what was going on and that she would return tomorrow. They had calmed down, Hunny going off to eat cake and sweets with Mori and Usa-chan and Tamaki…Well… Tamaki had retreated to his 'corner o' depression' at Korisca's 'daughterly rejection' as he called it.

_ Things are still __OK__…so far…but then why do I have this ever-present bad feeling…must be nerves. _Haruhi just shrugged it off and worked on getting through the rest of Host Club in one piece.


End file.
